Valentine's Day Inspired Sugar Cookie Recipe

From guacamole to cookies, my kids are constantly whipping up something yummy in the kitchen. Their favorite items to bake and cook are the ones that are most easily shared with friends and neighbors. As a result, cookies are coming out of our kitchen 2-3 times a week. Typically, the go-to option is chocolate chip, but if a holiday is coming up, decorated sugar cookies become the first choice.

In an effort to build their confidence and skills, I steer my crew towards easy recipes that they can make mostly on their own. There are countless recipes for sugar cookies and just as many options for frosting. In honor of Valentine's Day, we baked simple cookies with a simple icing. However, don't mistake simple for lacking in taste—these are so yummy!

High on the list of importance when it comes to sugar cookies, at least in our house, is using a recipe that creates soft cookies—but also one that allows the cookies to hold their shape. After mixing your dough (recipe at bottom of article), I recommend rolling your cookies out to be about 1/4" thick.

There are endless recipes available online for royal icing and buttercream icing. We usually do a standard buttercream if we want a thick, spreadable icing. If we want a more decorated look, we combine powdered sugar, milk and gel food coloring. For our heart cookies, we started with a thick texture to outline the heart. Once the outline was dry, we thinned the icing by adding a bit more milk. Lastly, we filled in the hearts with the thinner icing. We typically use a butter knife to help spread the icing before it drys.

Half of my crew likes the sprinkles, the other half does not. While the icing is still wet, you can add sprinkles to the top.

These cookies definitely taste better when they are shared in the company of others!

Basic Sugar Cookies

1 c butter - room temperature

1 c sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 teaspoons baking powder

3 c flour

Preheat oven to 365˚ F.

Using a mixer, combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Slightly knead the dough until combined; do not over mix. Roll dough out 1/4" thick and cut into shapes.

As a lifelong adventure seeker, you can often find Ashley Campbell outside searching for a new place to explore with her husband Chris and their 5 kids. She picks up her camera everyday to find the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life and insists on baking chocolate chip cookies for anyone who wanders in her door! Ashley homeschools her crew, is the blogger behind Under the Sycamore, and is the owner and founder of SnapShop Online Photography School, where she relishes in the opportunity to teach adults and kids photography.